The biggest challenges involved space. Ideally, I would have a huge wall with clamps for this type of project. Alas, I do not. I have a small table with clamps. So, I did the best I could and took the canvas out after each painting session to get a true perspective of it in the driveway.
It took a few weeks to do this and the weather certainly did not help. We had an unusual amount of snow for central Virginia, so it was often too wet to take the canvas out. The play was also bumped back a couple of times because of all the snow days. The music teacher in charge of this production has the patience of a saint, not to mention the energy of a hummingbird!
In the meantime, a handful of crafty, devoted moms were cutting felt, stitching lion manes, gluing feathers, and attaching monkey ears for dozens and dozens of little creatures. The kids looked amazing and had no trouble getting into character with these adorable costumes.
Given the theme and the ages of the performers, the look I went for was kind of a "whimsical storybook edge-of-the-jungle" look. The result was lots of very happy first graders who were proud to be "in the jungle!" I would love to include a photo of the actual children dressed up for the play, but I have this weird thing about using children's images (other than my own) on my blog. Trust me, it looks better with all the hippos, monkeys, and adorable faces in the foreground!
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More images from the process...
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| painting the background on the first "dry" day |
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